Saturday, September 24, 2011

4-mile Run and Aunt Karen & Uncle Woody's Manhattan Visit

Last Saturday (September 17th), I completed my first 4-mile distance run/race with New York Roadrunners. I finished in 35:44, which is an 8:56 minute/mile. Given the short distance, I was happy to be able to break the 9 minute mile pace.

It was a nice, cool September morning for running.

Finished...I forgot my workout headband, so my hair was a disaster.

After my run, I came back to my apartment and quickly got ready to go to midtown to meet up with my Aunt Karen & Uncle Woody. They were in the middle of a cross-country road trip, which included a weekend in NYC. Woody was in NYC years ago, and Karen had never been before.

This picture is actually from Friday night. I met them at their hotel, and we walked to Bryant Park Grill for dinner. We then walked to Times Square (see picture), Rockefeller Center and back to their hotel.

On Saturday morning, we headed straight to Grand Central to take the subway downtown. They did great on the subway...just like seasoned New Yorkers.

Our first stop was St. Paul's Chapel. There were still white ribbons on the fence around the church from 9-11.

This is at St. Paul's...a listing of the events of September 11, 2001.

We then walked to South Street Seaport to buy discount Broadway Show tickets, and from there got a good view of the Brooklyn Bridge.

We then walked to Wall Street, but that was a disappointment because the street was closed due to a protest. We could only see it from a distance. After Wall Street, we walked to Battery Park, which is the best view of the Statue of Liberty without getting on a boat. From there, we walked through Battery Park City to Ground Zero.

This is the new Freedom Tower at 1 WTC. As you can see in the picture, the base is completely built of concrete and steel. This is due to the tower being so close to the street, so if anyone tries to drive a car with a bomb it will not take down the building.

After Ground Zero, we got back on the subway and headed to the Murray Hill area to go to lunch. This was the view of the Empire State Building when we came out of the subway.